Snickerdoodle Gooey Bars

It is recipe swap time again, one of my favorites! The swap host from A Taste of Home Cooking does a fabulous job deciding on the theme and this time it was bloggers choice, so I got to decide. The blog that I received is called Cookies on Friday, really? I knew I was in trouble. This makes it much more difficult than just getting a recipe, I have to pick just ONE! I am the world's worst decision maker, I even have a coin flip app on my phone to help me out. That wasn't going to help me this time, I could not choose between these Snickerdoodle Gooey Bars, this Cookie Butter Bundt Cake, or this Foccacia Bread. The winner was obviously the snickerdoodle gooey bars, but I have no doubt that the other two will be making appearances in my kitchen soon.

My husband and I went to the Rangers baseball home-opener with my sister and her boyfriend, Josh. We had a blast and ran into some friends that invited us back to their tailgate after the game. We had so much fun and they had the best food ever there. However, Ethan and Josh fell in love with this cake and may or may not have been eating it with their hands, which would be totally appropriate, because it was a tailgate. I had no idea what it was and Ethan kept telling me I had to make it for him, so we asked around and it was called a "butter cake." Needless to say when I read that these bars are butter cake meets snickerdoodle cookie, I knew I had to make them. These have far surpassed Ethan's expectations and he has even said they are better than the butter cake from the game, this my friends is a major success.

Source: The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, via Pink Parsley, via Cookies on Friday

Ingredients:

For the Cookie Base {Bottom Layer}:
1/2 cup Butter, room temperature
3/4 cup of Sugar
1 Egg
1/4 cup of Milk
1 1/2 cups of Flour
1 teaspoon of Cream of Tartar
1/2 teaspoon of Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon of Salt
1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon

For the Gooey Layer {Top Layer}:
1/4 cup of Light Corn Syrup
1/4 cup of Milk
1 tablespoon of Vanilla
3/4 cup of Butter, room temperature
1 cup + 2 tablespoons of Sugar
1/4 teaspoon of Salt
1 Egg
1 1/4 cups of Flour
2 tablespoons of Cinnamon Sugar, equal parts cinnamon to sugar mixed together

Directions:
First, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 9"x13" pan with aluminum foil, then sprayed with cooking spray.

Now, prepare the cookie base. In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and milk until well combined. In a small bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. With the mixer on low, add small amounts of the flour mixture until it has all been added and is well combined. Spread the cookie base on the prepared pan. This mixture is so sticky so just do your best and use an off-set spatula or your clean fingers.

Next, rinse and dry your mixing bowl and prepare the gooey layer. In a small bowl, whisk together the corn syrup, milk, and vanilla. Set aside. In your mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and salt, until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. When combined, add in 1/3 of the flour mixture alternating with the corn syrup mixture until all is combined. Spread this layer, carefully, on top of the cookie base.

Sprinkle the top with 2 tablespoons of cinnamon sugar. This will seem like too much, but just do it all. It will caramelize and become amazing.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until the tops are browned. They will be soft and gooey. It is better to under-bake than over-bake these.

Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. When cool, remove from the pan and cut into squares.

Enjoy!

Happy Cooking,
The Barbee Housewife